Encinitas Council sets goals

ENCINITAS -- City Council members agreed Wednesday that they
want to relieve traffic congestion, but they disagreed about the
need for a beach where dogs can run free.

The council brainstormed about several new goals in the first of
two workshops that will help form the city's budget for the
2001-2002 and 2002-2003 fiscal years.

The next workshop will be 4 p.m. Jan. 30.

One idea to relieve traffic is to synchronize traffic signals on
the cross-town Encinitas Boulevard and on the north-south
thoroughfare El Camino Real so motorists can travel the length of
both roads without hitting a light. Another option discussed would
be to link some of the shopping centers on El Camino Real, making
it possible to get from one store to another without getting back
on the busy road.

"Of all the e-mails I've received, all but two were complaints
about traffic," said new Councilman Jerome Stocks, who took office
in December.

Traffic congestion is the number one concern of Encinitas
voters, according to a city-conducted survey released in
September.

As for a leash-free dog beach, Mayor Dennis Holz and
Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan argued for one. Councilman James Bond
said it would eventually foul the beach.

Encinitas has had ongoing problems with high bacteria levels at
Moonlight Beach, mostly because of contaminated runoff water in
Cottonwood Creek. Animal waste can be a pollution source.

The two-year goal-setting session gave rookie council members
Stocks and Houlihan a chance to push their agendas.

Houlihan followed one of her campaign pledges and asked that an
environmental advisory board be established to review new projects
and make recommendations to the council and Planning
Commission.

When Houlihan suggested the council members periodically sit
outside shopping centers or other busy areas to better interact
with residents who don't make it to City Hall, she got a laugh.

"I'm not gonna do that," Bond said.

"I'll do that in a year and a half," laughed Holz, who will be
up for re-election in two years.

"Wow, are you new," Guerin said, adding that Houlihan can expect
residents to find her anywhere in the city.

Stocks said he wants the city to implement plans to improve
Moonlight Beach that have been on the shelf for several years. He
also said building complete sidewalks on Encinitas Boulevard and
Santa Fe Drive, where there are gaps, should be a goal.

Other goals included buying more parkland and finding a way to
help flower-growers stay in business so they don't sell their land
to home-builders.

Aside from setting new goals, the council heard an update on
some ongoing city projects and when some of them will be
completed.

A $7.4 million community/senior center on Balour Drive next to
Oakcrest Park is expected to be completed in October. A $1.5
million fire station on Balour Drive is expected to open in
November.

A proposed 8-acre park at the northeast corner of Encinitas
Boulevard and Vulcan Avenue, which has been jokingly called
"Iwannah Park" because it is taking so long to accomplish, is
expected to be built by February 2002.